Soleil looks right at home

Cirque bigtop moves to downtown L.A.

Cirque du Soleil’s new digs next to downtown’s Staples Center may not be as scenic as its old beachside Santa Monica haunt, but the sports arena location made perfect sense once the “Varekai” acrobatics began under the bigtop Friday night. The Canadian troupe dazzled the celeb-studded first-nighters with jaw-dropping leaps and contortions requiring the utmost athletic conditioning, not to mention grace.

The Tapis Rouge VIP tent required a different type of dexterity, as media folk and revelers did a little rubbernecking of their own in tight quarters, where Jim Carrey was indisputably the star attraction. He was joined in the tent by Robert Wagner and wife Jill St. John, Samuel L. Jackson, Lauren Graham and Bravo’s James Lipton, who hobnobbed with several of his former interview subjects at the reception.

After the bow, revelers hoofed a few blocks to the Figueroa Hotel, where an array of circus performers awaited the crowd. The lower floor of the historic hotel was devoted to the party, with the most exclusive gathering, natch, as far away from the masses as possible in a tiny upstairs nook. Carrey was spotted departing the group, which included Cirque founder Guy Laliberte, Daryl Hannah and Tori Spelling.